A
pirate's treasure? Not quite, but kids might find
playing as the three heroes from the movie series
entertaining, albeit repetitive. by
Vaughn Smith

July
6, 2006 - Ragging
on games based on movies is a lot like making fun
of the kid who constantly pees his pants in class;
eventually you realize it's just mean-spirited behavior,
you do some growing up and you allow that kid to resume
his life without torturing him daily. It's not his
fault and you know something? Aside from the unmistakable
smell of urine, he's not a bad dude. Dead Man's Chest
isn't great and it's not terrible; it's just okay.
I've been around long enough to realize that A) some
kids will enjoy this game simply because they get
to "play the movie", B) this ain't Halo
3 and C) it's not aimed at 40-year-old game reviewers.
Actually, I haven't found a game yet specifically
targetted at that sad, pathetic demographic. Perhaps
that's a good thing.

Dead
Man's Chest for the DS, GBA and PSP is based upon
the upcoming summer movie while the console Pirates
games are more of a retrospective, shining some history
upon the mysterious Jack Sparrow and some of his earlier
adventures. In regards to the DS version, Amaze delivered
a perfunctory beat-em-up, starring the three most
popular characters from the movie Jack Sparrow (Johnny
Depp), Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) and Elizabeth Swann
(Kiera Knightley). Since I haven't seen the movie,
I can only speculate that the plot of the game follows
it to some degree - although I'd expect the movie
(hopefully) features far more than repetitive button
mashing for 2 hours.

Played
from a third person perspective, this 3D brawler doesn't
look half bad at first glance on the DS. Once you
delve further into the game you begin to notice the
awkward animation, camera problems and other telltale
signs that this game might have been a little rushed
to meet its movie release deadline. The repetitive
fighting won't keep anyone but the youngest of gamers
attention, which isn't a bad thing since that's the
intended audience. The rest of the gaming world will
find it particularly dull even when playing co-op
with a friend, which is a nice touch and definitely
echoes the comradarie of the characters in the movie.
The touch screen displays your inventory screen and
I found it far too large and distracting. Nobody needs
a screen that big for that stuff.

To
keep gamers interests up, Amaze tossed in a plethora
of moves (combos and specials) and other goodies.
Ultimately the special moves are an empty gesture
as you won't really need them. You'll encounter numerous
cookie cutter enemies throughout the game and you'll
find defeating with the same moveset you were given
at the outset works just fine. Fanatic gamers will
love to invest in new moves just to see what they
do, while others will shrug their shoulders and continue
pressing the punch button until the game ends.

Borrowing
from beat-em-ups from days gone by, DMC allows players
to pick up weapons lying around which might alleviate
some of the boredom as you kick, punch and swordfight
from checkpoint to checkpoint. A "on the go"
save feature has been mercifully implemented so you
can log your progress at every available new area.
Considering the game is on the lengthy side, you'll
find the save feature a handy addition.

Amaze
tacked on a few mini-games to help elongate the play
value and while they aren't anything special, they
definitely work as intended. The downer is that DMC
doesn't support one cart play, so each player will
have to own their own copy of the game. Needless to
say you may not find that any of your friends have
a copy. There is a cannon game, a memory game and
a monkey shooting game - not exactly the pinaccle
of multiplayer gaming.

If
you're dying to see Dead Man's Chest and you're heading
off for a long summer vacation in the family vehicle,
perhaps this game would be worth a closer look as
it would certainly keep you occupied for a respectable
amount of time. All others should approach this like
you would a pirate ship: with a little bit of excitement
and a little bit of caution.

Features:

Players take on the role of one of three characters
(Jack Sparrow, Will Turner or Elizabeth Swann) to
fight their way through 19 levels